Analysis and composition of the portfolios of super traders and the best investment funds in the world
Analysis of funds of five "super investors"
Since the market usually takes a breather in the summer, this is a great opportunity to analyze how the leading funds positioned their portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
We selected five funds of varying sizes, each led by a well-known investor who often has a unique view of the market and strategy for building their portfolio.
Differences in portfolio composition highlight the diversity of investment strategies, showing how some leading investors approach portfolios.
Berkshire Hathaway has one of the most famous and successful portfolios in the world that has outperformed the S&P 500 by far in the long run.
While the S&P 500 has gained 195% since 2013, the Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger fund has gained 260% over the same period.
While Buffett is known for his preaching of diversification, almost half of Berkshire's portfolio is owned by the market's most valuable company, Apple. The rest of the portfolio is fairly diversified with a mix of banking stocks, consumer goods such as Coca-Cola and Kraft, and oil and gas companies.
Jim Simons' hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, is best known for its pioneering use of sophisticated mathematical models and algorithms that pioneered the practice of quantitative investing.
As a result, the hedge fund's portfolio holdings show remarkable diversification, with the fund's largest holding being a 2% stake in pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.
The portfolio is divided into over 3,900 different positions, demonstrating the fund's strategy to profit from a diverse set of investments using an algorithmic statistical arbitrage approach.
Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates was one of the few hedge funds that predicted and managed the financial crisis of 2008, thanks in large part to its "all-weather" strategy, which should work well in any economic environment through diversification and asset allocation approach with risk parity. .
As a result, you see many parallels and "balances" in the assets of the fund. Its largest ETF holding, Emerging Markets from MSCI, is balanced by the Core S&P 500 ETF.
Bridgewater is also one of the few funds holding shares in a gold ETF. While the other funds we looked at invest in gold or mining companies that likely have strong balance sheets and business to support the investment, Dalio chose to invest directly in the precious metal.
Stanley Druckenmiller is best known as a key strategist at George Soros's Quantum Fund and for his own steady income from Duquesne, which averages 30% a year.
Known for his macroeconomic approach to investing, Druckenmiller is not afraid to make unique and concentrated bets when he has a strong conviction.
Currently, his largest bet and largest stake in his portfolio is Coupang Inc., the largest online marketplace in South Korea. Along with Coupang, Druckenmiller has positioned his fund to take advantage of this year's AI boom, holding significant stakes in the likes of NVIDIA, Microsoft and Alphabet.
The smallest of the five funds we reviewed, Michael Berry's Scion Asset Management is perhaps one of the best known for its role in predicting the 2008 financial crisis early on.
The protagonist of The Big Short, Michael Berry, is best known for his aggressive short betting and general approach to value investing, especially distressed assets.
Scion Asset Management's portfolio reflects this, as a significant portion of its holdings at the end of the first quarter of this year were in various bank stocks, which declined significantly during March.
However, Berry's biggest bets are on Chinese e-commerce companies JD.com and Alibaba, showing Berry's faith in China's consumer-led economic recovery this year.
Berkshire Hathaway, Renaissance Technologies, Bridgewater Associates, Duquesne, Scion Asset Management